1. Welcome Song
SATB choir, Children’s choir, Instrumental ensemble
Sopranos + Children’s choir
Oh ho, Oh ho
Oh ho, Oh ho
Oh ho, Oh ho
Oh…
– Traditional Salish Nation Welcome Song
Tenors
As a beam o’er the face of the waters may glow,
While the tide runs in darkness and coldness below,
So the cheek may be ting’d with a warm sunny smile,
Tho’ the cold heart to ruin runs darkly the while.
– As a beam o’er the face of the waters may glow – Traditional Irish Folksong
Basses
Fanga alafia,
Ashay, ashay.
Fanga alafia,
Ashay, ashay.
Welcome, blessings
Amen, amen,
Welcome, blessings,
Amen, Amen
Ikabo alafia,
Ashay, ashay.
Ikabo alafia,
Ashay, ashay.
Welcome, peace
Amen, amen,
Welcome, peace,
Amen, Amen
– Fanga Alafia– Traditional African Welcome Song
Altos
Arirang arirang arariyo…
Arirang gogyero nomoganda
Narul borigo gashnun nimun
Shimnido mogasaw balbyungnanda.
Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo…
You are going over Arirang hill
My love, you are leaving me
Your feet will be sore before you go 3 miles.
– Arirang – Traditional Korean Folksong
2. Mothers of Exiles
a. An Irish Mother’s Prayer (1850)
Soprano solo, Instrumental ensemble
Soprano solo
Dear Patt,
I received your letter [from America] with the thirty shillings in our greatest of want. I hope God will reward you for it. The day it come, I was without one bite to eat. Dickey’s 8 weeks in bed, without a stitch on him, and my petticoat and coat’s all pawned.
Dear Patt, we’ve no place to lay our heads. We were lodging under James Street arch, but were put out of it. Then a few nights up in the Sconce, still without a bite. We’d be dead long ago, only for two neighbors that often gives me a bite, for God’s sake. Little ever I thought it’d come my turn to beg. No more would I beg, only for your father’s death. But thanks bit of God, whatever me or his child here is suffering, your father died and was buried the way he lived: respectable and decent.
Dear Patt, I’ve had not a penny. The blankets, bed and boots of my feet was pawned. You can’t know how we’re suffering unless you were in starvation and want, without friend or fellow to give you a shilling, then you’d know. But on my two bended knees, Patt, fresh and fasting, I pray to God that you nor none of yours may ever know, nor ever suffer, what we are suffering now.
Oh Patt, hurry and take us out of this. It’s the poorest prospect of a winter that ever I had, without house or homefire, friend nor fellow nor bit of food to eat. That’s my prospects. For the love of God, dear Patt, bring me and little Dickey out of this, as quick as you can. I pray that God’s Holy Spirit be with you all. You promised to take us out.
Your loving mother until death.
– Letter from Mrs. Nolan, County Kilkenny, Ireland, to her son Patrick,
October 8, 1850 during the Irish Potato Famine
[T]here at [their] sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles.
– from The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus (1883)
….attacca…
b. The Mother of Exiles (1883)
SATB choir, Instrumental ensemble
SATB choir
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates [there stands]
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
– from The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus (1883)
….attacca…
3. Refugees
a. Refugees
SATB choir, Instrumental ensemble
SATB choir
They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way
(NOTE: At this point in the original poem, the poet instructs the reader to “now read from bottom to top.” For convenience, I have arranged the lines below per the poet’s instructions.)
The world can be looked at another wayDo not be so stupid to think that
A place should only belong to those who are born there
These are people just like us
It is not okay to say
Build a wall to keep them out
Instead let us
Share our countries
Share our homes
Share our food
They cannot
Go back to where they came from
We should make them
Welcome here
They are not
Cut-throats and thieves
With bombs up their sleeves
Layabouts and loungers
Chancers and scroungers
We need to see them for who they really are
Should life have dealt a different hand
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
So do not tell me
They have no need of our help
– Refugees by Brian Bilston
….attacca…
b. The Mother of Exiles – Reprise (Chorale)
SATB choir, Instrumental ensemble
SATB choir
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Give me your tired, your poor,
Give me your tired, your poor.”
– from The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus (1883)
….attacca…
c. Welcome Song – Reprise
SATB choir, Children’s choir, Instrumental ensemble
Choir Sopranos
Give me your tired, your poor, (repeat)
– from The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus (1883)
Children’s choir
Oh ho, Oh ho… (repeat)
– from Traditional Salish Nation Welcome Song
Choir Tenors
As a beam o’er the face of the waters may glow (repeat)
– from Irish folksong of the same name
Choir Basses
Fanga Alafia,
Ashay, ashay!
Ikabo Alafia,
Ashay, ashay! (repeat)
Welcome, Blessings
Amen, amen.
Welcome, Peace,
Amen, amen.
– Fanga Alafia– Traditional African Welcome Song
Choir Altos
Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo (repeat)
– from Arirang – Traditional Korean Folksong
4. Border Lines
Children’s choir, SATB choir, Readers, Instrumental ensemble
SATB choir + Children’s choir
My country, ’tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
– from America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee) by Samuel Francis Smith (1831)
Adult Reader(s)
The border is mighty, but even the parting of the seas created a path, not a barrier.
The border is a big, neat, clean, clear black line on a map that does not exist.
– from Borders: A Double Sonnetby Alberto Rios
SATB choir
We seem to live in a world of maps:
But in truth we live in a world made
Not of paper and ink but of people.
Which way we look at the drawing
Makes all the difference.
Those lines are our lives.
Together,
Let us turn the map until we see clearly:
The border is what joins us,
Not what separates us.
Spoken by two young children from the Children’s choir
A weight carried by two
Weighs only half as much.
– from Border Lines by Alberto Ríos
….attacca…
5. Song of the Stranger
TUTTI: Soprano solo, SATB choir, Children’s choir, Instrumental ensemble
SATB choir
In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,…
– Isaiah 11:6
Children’s choir
…and a little child will lead them all.
– Isaiah 11:6
Children’s choir, SATB choir, + Soprano solo
I was hungry, and you gave me food; [and you fed me];
I was thirsty, and you gave me drink:
I was a stranger, and you welcomed me;
I was naked, and you clothed me;
I was ill and you cared for me;
I was in prison, and you visited me.”
– Matthew 25:35–36, Romans 12:16
Live in harmony with one another
– Romans 12:16
